As part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, Renault and Nissan work with communities around the world to improve the lives of disadvantaged people. This two-minute video looks at the Alliance’s CSR activities in Brazil, a key market for the auto group.
 
The video was produced in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for its Responsible Business TV series. The video -- which includes footage of the Alliance’s work with underprivileged children in Brazil -- aired on CNBC in late August.

Here in Seoul Headquarters, at our Technical Centre in Giheung  and at our factory in Busan we are celebrating 10 years of Renault’s relaunch of Samsung Motors under Renault Samsung Motors,  and if one day there is such a thing as an Alliance company, then RSM epitomizes it!

Good morning, everyone.

Today is a very special day… for all of us at Nissan… for everyone who has eagerly awaited zero-emission mobility… and for society’s hope for a cleaner future.
The launch of Nissan LEAF, the world’s first mass-market, affordable zero-emission vehicle, is a true transportation breakthrough.

The ambitions of Renault-Nissan to be the world leader in zero emissions have received timely boosts – and this time well away from the Salon d’Auto in Paris.

Leading hire car company Avis has just announced that it has pre-ordered 500 Renault EVs while LeasePLan has signed an agreement with Nissan to offer the LEAF on its fleet in Europe from next year.

The Alliance factory in Chennai, India, which is gearing up to start exporting the Nissan Micra to Europe later this month, has just achieved three significant milestones in a remarkably short time frame.

We have yet to launch them in the showrooms but our electric cars are already winning awards.

The Alliance EVs are the editor’s choice in this year’s Green Awards run by What Car?, the leading UK consumer motoring magazine.

The Editor’s Award is made by magazine chief Steve Fowler who said: “The electric car has come of age – and that’s down to the Renault-Nissan Alliance. While other manufacturers are still making plans and running trials, Renault and Nissan have beaten them to the punch with proper electric cars you’ll actually be able to buy and run by this time next year. You’ll want one, too."

Fowler added that cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence will change people’s perceptions of electric motoring for good.

Renault might not be the first car manufacturer to market electric cars, as Fluence ZE and Kangoo ZE will hit the road mid 2011, but in order to give a flavour of those exciting models, a lot of pre series cars will be seen on European roads this year.

Last week, the Alliance confirmed the next step in its partnership with Bajaj Auto by signing an MOU to build an affordable four-wheel vehicle for India and other emerging markets.  Although this was an expected milestone in a single program, it also represents a larger more significant strategic direction for the Alliance: mobility for all.

In November 2009, the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Bajaj Auto Ltd. announced their intention to partner on the development of an innovative new four-wheel product for the Indian and other emerging markets.

Today the project took another step forward with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two partners. The signing of the MOU follows discussions between both partners to define the product, manufacturing plan and distribution agreements.

As stated when the project was confirmed in November, the design, engineering, manufacturing and supply-base expertise to create this all-new product will be executed by Bajaj with the support of the Alliance. The marketing and distribution will be led by the Alliance, with the support of Bajaj. There has been no change to this structure originally agreed between both partners.

In a recent story in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, Professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the University of Duisberg-Essen made reference to a proposed BMW electric vehicle, comparing it to other automakers product plans: “I don’t know of any other manufacturer that has conceived of a car exclusively as an electric vehicle,” Mr. Dudenhöffer said. “The rest are based on conventional cars.”

Not quite.

In fact, the Nissan LEAF, the world's first mass-marketed electric vehicle, was created from the ground-up to be only an electric car. It is not based on any other Nissan product. The Nissan LEAF goes on sale in Japan, US and select markets in Europe later this year. Further, two of the concept vehicles shown by Renault at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show - the Twizy ZE and ZOE ZE - will lead to production vehicles that are also developed from the start to be only electric.